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Why measure Word of Mouth?
In the past few years there has been a change in perception regarding word of mouth from a "nice to have" to becoming critical to a company's success. The continued deterioration of corporate trust combined with the explosion of online discussions and reviews, as well as a general recognition of what was already going on in the market has driven progressive companies to put significant time and expense into driving positive word of mouth for their brands and products.
Social Dynamics and Information Sources
iReach run regular research projects in this area. We make sure to include a mix of people in the study with different social styles including very outgoing and social, those with a small close group of friends, and people who like to keep to themselves. Even with those differences, the vast majority of people included others when deciding what to do or buy as a group with only 19% saying that they drove the final decision on their own. Conversely, 65% said they make a decision jointly with a group and 15% generally ask for other people's opinions or defer on the choice. In fact, an overwhelming 74% said that they consult friends and family when searching out a new activity or product, begging the question "do they trust those opinions?"
The answer by and large is yes. When asked to rank what information sources were most trusted, friends or family was first with another person I consider an expert in the subject next and corporate/seller web sites third.
Word of Mouth is a 2 way Street.
In general, people tend to ask for reommendations from their friends and colleagues fairly often with 88% saying they ask at least occasionally and close to 50% saying that ask often or all the time. Even more telling is the fact that less than 8% said that they regularly dismiss this advice, meaning 92% of participants are actively impacted by the recommendations of their peers.
Proving that word-of-mouth is a two way street, 94% of participants occasionally or frequently recommend products or activities to the people they interact with.
The importance of Word of Mouth varies in each Industry Vertical, so contact iReach to understand how this might impact your marketing or brand strategy. Using measures such as NPS (and others) we can put a 'bottom line' value on Advocacy and WoM.
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Post Budget Omnibus closing 11th December next
The upcoming 2010 Budget on 9th December next is one of the most important political and economic events in recent years that will impact consumers and business leaders in Ireland. We expect a wide range of announcements that will help or hinder our economic recovery in the year and years ahead. iReach is running our last Omnibus survey of 2009 to capture the impact of the budget announcement with results available for clients on 18th December next.
Each month we deliver 1000 responses from our nationally representative Consumer Panel of Irish adults as part of our Omnibus. For B2B research we deliver 200 responses from Business Decision Makers across SOHO, SME and Enterprise organisations in Ireland. Questions start from as little as €500.00 each. Click here for more details
Contact ciara.shaffrey@ireach.ie for more details on iReach Services or call 01-4003600
ESOMAR 26 Questions for Online Research buyers to ask your research provider.
iReach is the only Market Research Agency that has built our own research panels of 15,000 Consumers and 5,000 Business Decision Makers. We do not share these Panels with any external agencies so we can ensure the data collected from our projects is valid and robust. See our response to the ESOMAR Guidelines on selecting Online Panels. Click here for our Answers.
Measure Advocacy and WoM
There is little doubt that this powerful source of "marketing" really drives behaviors as shown by the fact that under 1% of participants outright ignore the advice they are given and over 60% of people are moved to seek out additional information or try a product or service.
Whether you are actively creating strategies to drive word of mouth or simply relying on providing great experiences to your customers to generate positive recommendations, the power of Advocacy and word of mouth and its impact on your business can not be ignored.
Click here for more information
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For more information on participation in either the iReach Business or Consumer Omnibus, please contact ciara.shaffrey@ireach.ie or call either on 01-400 3600 |
See below option if you wish to forward this newsletter to a colleague
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iReach short listed for Research Excellence Awards 2009.
iReach Market Research is delighted to have a joint entry with
UTV
shortlisted for the Marketing Society of Ireland
inaugural
Research Excellence Awards.
(Click here for event details)
Follow
iReach Online
for Media and Advertising Industry news on
Twitter
at www.twitter.com/ireachonline
iReach to launch new Research Panel for Northern Ireland in January 2010
Click here for details
For more information on iReach Market Research services please visit our website at
www.ireach.ie
If you wish to learn more about Online research methods and techniques please visit our onine research website at
www.ireachonline.com
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